Does Gender Matter? Potential Lexical Errors among Iranian EFL Learners

Yıl 2015, Cilt: 36 Sayı: 3, 2431 - 2444, 13.05.2015

Ali Asghar Ahmadıshokouh , Muhammed Parvız

Öz

Abstract. Post method era encourages teachers to attend to the different layers of reality of the classroom. Apparently, the most important layer of reality is" individual differences". Gender as a key factor, among other factors of individual differences, needs to be considered in teaching profession in general and language teaching in particular. A thorough review of literature gives us a vivid picture of dichotomous findings regarding the impact of gender on learning language skills. When it comes to writing, issue becomes more complicated, because, as Williams (2009) puts it, few models of writing have emerged and none is comprehensive. This study seeks to identify and categorize the lexical errors that appear in a group of high school EFL learners’ compositions in Khorramabad, Iran in an attempt to find a possible trace of gender in these errors. EFL learners including males and females were under investigation. They were asked to write an essay about computer. The SPSS program was used to process the analysis of the data. Two-way Analysis Of Variance was used to evaluate the hypothesis of significant difference between the mean scores of male and female students' writing performance in types of lexical errors. The results revealed no significant difference between male and female students in type of lexical errors in their writing task. It also was found that female learners outperformed their peer male learners in their writing scores.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Lexical errors, gender, individual differences

Kaynakça

• Agnihotri, R.K., (1979). Process of assimilation: sociolinguistic study of Sikh children in Leeds. Unpublished DPhil thesis.
• Bacon, S. (1992). The relationship between gender, comprehension and, proceeding strategies and cognitive and affective response in second-language listening. The Modern Language Journal 76/2, 160-178.
• Bacon, S. & Finnemann, M. (1992). Sex differences in self-reported beliefs about foreignlanguage learning and authentic oral and written input. Language Learning,42,471,495.
• Bergvall, V. (1999). Towards a comprehensive theory of language and gender. Language in Society, 28, 273–293.
• Berninger, V. W., Abbott, R. D., Jones, J., Wolf, B. J., Gould, L., Anderson- Youngstrom,
• M., et al. (2006). Early development of language by hand: Composing, reading, listening, and speaking connections; three letter-writing modes; and fast mapping in spelling. Developmental Neuropsychology, 29, 61-92.
• Block, D. (2002). Language & Gender and SLA. [Electronic version] Quaderns de Filologia.Estudis Linguistics. Vol VII, 49-73.
• Boyle, J. (1987). Sex differences in learning vocabulary. Language Learning, 37.2, 273-284.
• Cameron, D. (1996). The language-gender interface: challenging co-operation.
• Cameron, D. (2004). Language, gender, and sexuality: Current issues and new directions.
• Applied Linguistics 26/4, 482-502. Oxford University Press.
• Canagarajah, S. (1999). Resisting Linguistic Imperialism in English Teaching. Oxford,England: Oxford University Press.
• Corder, S. P. (1971). Idiosyncratic dialects and error analysis. IRAL, 9(2), 147−159.
• Corder, S. P. (1973). Introducing applied linguistics. Penguin Education.
• Davis, K.A. & Skilton-Sylvester, E. (2004). Looking back, taking stock, moving forward:Investigating gender in TESOL. TESOL Quarterly 38/3, 381-404.
• Davis, K. A. (Eds.), Sociopolitical Perspectives on Language Policy and Planning in the USA (pp. 67–98). Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
• Douglas, J. W. B. (1964). The Home and the School: A Study of Ability and Attainment in the Primary School. MacGibbon & Kee: London.
• Duckworth, A., & De Bevoise, W. (1986). Student engagement and skill development in writing at the secondary level: Final report. Eugene, OR.: Center for Educational Policy and Management, University of Oregon.
• Dulay, H., Burt, M., & Krashen, . (1982). Language two.New York:Oxford University Press.
• Ellis, R. (1985). Understanding second language acquisition. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
• Edge, J. 1989. Mistakes and Corrections. London: Longman.
• Ehrlich, S. (1997). Gender as social practice: Implications for second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19, 421–446.
• Ehrman, M. E., & Oxford, R. L. (1990). Adult learning styles and strategies in an intensive training setting. The Modern Language Journal, 74, 311–326.
• Ellis, R. (1994). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University
• Freed, A. F. (1995). Language and gender. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 15, 3–22.
• Frye, D. (1999). Participatory education as a critical framework for immigrant women’s ESL class. TESOL Quarterly, 33, 501–513.
• Gardner, R. & Lambert, W. (1972). Attitudes and Motivation in Second-Language Learning.
• Rowley, Ma.: Newbury House.
• Gass, S. & Selinker, L. (2001). Second Language Acquisition (2nd Ed.) Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Jiménez Catalán, R. (1997). Terms and definitions of errors in SLA. Bells: Barcelona English language and literature studies, 8, 60-81.
• Juel, C. (1988). Learning to read and write: A longitudinal study of 54 children from first through forth grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80, 437447.
• Keshavarz, M. H. (1999). Contrastive analysis and error analysis. Tehran: Rahnama Publications.
• Labov, W. (1991). The intersection of sex and social class in the course of linguistic change.Language Variation and Linguistic Change 2, 205-51.
• Litosseliti, L., & Sunderland, J. (2002). Gender identity and discourse analysis. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
• Li, R. & Bu, Y. (2006). On how children acquire their mother tongue: explanation of Chomsky’ mental linguistic theory. Sino-US English Teaching 3/ 3, 55-57.
• Lin, A. & Luk, J. (2004). Local creativity in the face of global domination: Insights of.
• Long, M. (1998). SLA: Breaking the siege. Univerisity of Hawaii Working Papers in ESL 17, 79- 129.
• Ludwig, J. (1983). Attitudes and expectations: A profile of female and male students of college French, German, and Spanish. The Modern Language Journal 67/2, 216-227.
• Morris, M. (1966). An Introduction to the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge: London
• Oxford, R. L. (1993). Gender differences in styles and strategies for language learning: What do they mean? Should we pay attention?
• Satyanath, T. S. (1982). Kannadigas in Delhi: a sociolinguistic study. [unpublished doctoral dissertation, Delhi: University of Delhi].
• Sunderland, J. (2000). Issues of language and gender in second and foreign language
• Trudgill, P. (1974). The Social Differentiation of English in Norwich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Valdes, G. (1998). The world inside and outside schools: Language and immigrant children. Educational Researcher, 27/6, 4–18.